Monday, 16 December 2013

LABOUR CANDIDATE CALLS FOR NEW HOMES TO TACKLE COST OF LIVING CRISIS

Mick Lerry, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Bridgwater & West Somerset, has called on the Government to take action to make home
ownership a realistic aspiration for working people and rents more affordable
by building much needed homes.

According
to independent experts, under the current Government we are building less than
half the homes a year we need to meet demand. The gap between the number of
homes we build each year and what we need is unprecedented at over 100,000 each
year.

A
housing shortage, combined with the cost of living crisis – with falling wages
and rising bills – is making rents increasingly expensive and putting home
homeownership out of reach for millions of working people.

Back in 1997
it took an average family just three years to save for a proper deposit on a
home but today it takes 22 years. Private sector rents are now at the highest
level ever recorded.

One Nation Labour has plans to increase the supply of new homes in
England above 200,000 a year by the end of the next Parliament. To ensure plans
are in place on day one of a Labour Government, Ed Miliband today, Monday 16th
December 2013, launched a Housing Commission chaired by Sir Michael Lyons has
been launched to draw up a road map for delivering this ambition.

Mick Lerry, said:

“The security of knowing you can afford
to live in your home is the cornerstone of a strong society. It’s a basic
aspiration that working people want for themselves and their children – one
that should be open to everyone.

“Many people in Bridgwater and West
Somerset are facing a cost of living crisis and are struggling with housing
costs. By getting Britain building again a Labour Government will help tackle
ever-spiralling private rents and will make home ownership an achievable dream
once more for those that are currently priced out.”

Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“David Cameron is presiding over the
lowest levels of homes built in peacetime since the 1920s and already families
are suffering from some of the worst housing shortages for a generation. This
is now part of a cost-of-living crisis for millions of people for whom the
dream of home ownership is fading into the distance.

“At this time of year, when family is
so important, there are parents who fear their children will never get a place
of their own. And there are millions of young people who fear they may never be
able to get on the housing ladder; never able to invite their parents round for
Christmas dinner.

“If families are to prosper and our country is
to succeed, Britain needs new homes.”